


The Lotus Won't Sit In The Chair

by Estirose



Category: Conscientious Objector - Edna St. Vincent Millay
Genre: Gen, Science Fiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-24
Updated: 2014-12-24
Packaged: 2018-03-03 01:28:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2833133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Estirose/pseuds/Estirose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There is more than one way to be defiant.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Lotus Won't Sit In The Chair

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Deepdarkwaters](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Deepdarkwaters/gifts).



Death was waiting on her front porch. At first she thought that his pale steed was her cousin Hester's, so nondescript it was, but it was not her, for good or for ill. He was lounging in the swing that she kept up for sweet summer evenings, the one she used to contemplate the universe as it affected her life in that small place on that small world.  
  
"Good evening, sir, what can I do for you?" She curtsied, keeping her eyes low. She knew what his name had once been, and still officially was, but nobody in town used it if they had a choice. A long time ago, she would have called him by name even with the decision he had made, but no more.  
  
"Evening, Hilda." He nodded at her, as if they were still friendly with one another as they had been not that long ago. Even if they'd known the details of each others' flesh now, Hilda dared not be familiar with him.  "Don't need to be so formal; it's Mason."  
  
Or it used to be, she mentally added. Strictly speaking, that was still his name, but he was Death now. Except, maybe for her, in her heart and her mind.  
  
"I'm just surprised to see you here." She kept her face schooled. "This is far out for you, isn't it, so far from the capital? I barely see another human being myself, except when I go into town for supplies."  
  
He nodded, accepting her explanation at face value, for the moment. "Have you been paying attention to the news?"  
  
"Not a lot of the city stuff bothers me. I try to be self-sufficient out here. Cattle seem happy now, at least." They'd had to adapt to new food, and they couldn't just go wherever they wanted. Hilda's folk had learned that the hard way with their herd, and Hilda was careful not to do the same, for the most part. Some of the plants out there were dangerous. "Had to nurse some of them back to health after they ate some scatweed."  
  
"Governor thinks the rebels are out this way." He nodded to the east with his chin. "At least that's what the tracking satellites say. There's a whole bunch of them past your land, so I thought I'd go this way to check it out."  
  
"Haven't seen anyone," she pointed out. "You'd think no matter how sneaky they'd be, I'd have seen someone." They'd been careful, the rebels had, but not careful enough, and a shiver ran down her spine. If the plan was to succeed, the government had to know not where they were. "Then again, I've got a lot of land."  
  
"I could rid you of some of it," he said casually. "That way you wouldn't have so much to handle."  
  
There was a hardness in his eyes which told her he'd do exactly that. She took a deep breath. "Mason Kenyon, that better be a joke."  
  
"No joke," he said, and she saw in his eyes why everybody called him Death. There was no joy in there, only duty, and damn everything and everybody else. "Been some slaves escaped, came this way. Government suspects that they're trying to find the rebels. I'm surprised you haven't come across any dead bodies."  
  
She'd seen some of them, starving. She'd left food as best she could, made shelters not only for herself but for those voyaging to safety. "I haven't, would have called the authorities if I had," she sighed. "Hate to think of someone crossing my lands without me knowing. I had Rafael Brown do some patrolling because the carnirds were lean and hungry year or two ago."  
  
His expression darkened at that. "He's one of those that my superiors think are behind the rebels. Do you know where he is?" His voice was dropping deeper into a growl, as if all pleasantries were off until he got his answers.  
  
"I last saw him in town, months ago. Someone at Meeting told me that he was going to go do some mining a few towns away and that's the last anybody's heard of him." Her hands tensed, and she folded them behind her back so he wouldn't see. Rafael hadn't been just protecting her lands; he'd been scouting out a new place underground where the satellites couldn't track. "Crazy man."  
  
"Smart man," he said, as if correcting her. "I see what he's doing now." He walked off towards his steed. "You were always so foolish, Hilda."  
  
She made a fist behind her back, and reminded herself that this was for the best. If he didn't look too closely at what she was doing, she would be safe, and so would those underground. "For what? Being in love with you for a while?"  
  
Inside her mind, she chanted the password, just in case she needed it and just as Rafael had taught her. _The lotus won't sit in the chair. The lotus won't sit in the chair._  
  
"That wasn't ever meant to be," he said, and was there some regret in his voice. "I found my destiny, Hilda, we can stop arguing about it now."  
  
"And so you did." She couldn't have imagined this fate for him, government super-soldier. She couldn't imagine how they had changed him. He'd always had a temper when he and she were growing up out in town, but she wished he hadn't chosen it. Hadn't become Death.  
  
"Anyway," he said, "I'm going to go through your lands. Didn't want you to think I was trespassing."  
  
"You're government, of course you wouldn't be trespassing." He had been Mason, of course, a long time ago, and he wouldn't have been trespassing then, either. She wasn't going to say that though.  
  
He gave her a terse nod. "Thought you'd see it my way. I promise that you won't be troubled by rebels."  
  
Without waiting for a reply, he got back on his steed and rode off. Hilda shook her head, heading inside. She'd have to be careful, of course, how she did it, but she would warn Rafael and the others. Somehow.  
  
Death was coming, on his pale steed, but they would be prepared. She would not help him find his way there, and they would make sure he found nought but an abandoned place. He would not triumph that day, she swore it.  
  
Feeling good, she went inside.


End file.
